By IANS,
Kolkata : Around 2,000 people were arrested for bursting sound crackers on the occasion of Kali puja and Diwali in West Bengal, police said.
“About 2,000 people were arrested in West Bengal between Tuesday and Wednesday for bursting sound crackers,” Inspector General of Police (Law and Order) Raj Kanojia said.
He said the police had seized altogether 325 kg of sound crackers after conducting several raids across the state in past two days.
According to the city police, another 800 people were arrested in Kolkata for bursting sound crackers.
A top official of city private school South Point was also arrested for possessing banned sound crackers. Krishna Damani was caught red-handed on the charge of bursting sound crackers on the Diwali night Tuesday. Later he was released on bail.
State Pollution Control Board (PCB) officials said this year they had received at least 61 complaints on Tuesday and Wednesday from various locations where sound crackers were burst at a random.
“We also conducted several raids and our teams visited a number of hospitals to keep a tab on the situation. This year we’d received a significant number of complaints and I think the awareness should be much more among the commoners than what it is now,” Shyamal Adhikari, a PCB official posted at the emergency control room, told IANS.
An emergency control room was also opened by the state PCB from Monday to Wednesday in the state to take strict actions against law violators.